Augusta State University is considering purchasing “The Patch” a city-owned golf course that loses around $100,000 a year, according to an article in the Augusta Chronicle.

The school is considering this site as an option for campus expansion. One idea is to build an academic building on this particular site, which is located near University Village.

According to the same article in the Chronicle, Kathy Schofe, director of public relations, said that the $2 million it would cost to buy the property, at this time, is much better than the original Master Plans, which would have involved a $30 million purchase. Therefore, under normal circumstances, this would be an ideal opportunity to purchase the property. However, Augusta State is suffering from proposed budget cuts.

It is true that the university would be wise in shifting it’s plans, and purchasing “The Patch,” but the problem is, where will they get the money?

There is no getting around the fact that the school is growing. At this rate, it seems as though the school will double in size within 20 years. So, the university will need to expand, and since the main campus is already at capacity, the only other option is to continue development around Wrightsboro Rd.

Not everything about the proposed expansion is negative. Expanding the school will increase the appeal of the university, which will increase the number of students who enroll, therefore bring in more money for projects involving expansion. However, we cannot expand

without new buildings, and we cannot build new buildings without funds. The real key to this issue is finding the balance between spending money and expanding in an economical way.

Questions that could arise are: is it fair to cut important departments that have thrived on this campus which brings in many students each year? Or, is it fair to lose important members of the faculty and staff that have worked countless hours to enrich the lives of students?

It just doesn’t seem right to lose all of that just for a little more land. On the other hand, buying that land for such a great price may be the most economical choice in the long run.

The other aspect of this issue is that the expansion is based on the idea of building a new nursing facility. Who would use it? Remember, the nursing is on the chopping block and may not be here in the future. Although no one wants to see that happen, the possibility is out there.

Maybe what the university should do right now is focus on saving our programs, and not so much on building new buildings. If “The Patch” is in such financial trouble, waiting a few years to purchase it and develop it may not be a huge issue.

Although the budget cuts are not directly related to the purchasing on land, they are linked. If there is money to be spent, shouldn’t it be used to save what is already on our campus now? It would seem pointless to build a building and not have any students to fill the seats.

The streets will soon be filled with people sharing a passion for cycling, while also sharing lots of yellow bikes.

The Augusta Yellow Bike Project is a community bike shop where people can come in and repair their own bikes or work on the bikes that have been donated to the project, regardless of experience. Any of the donated bikes that are repaired go to the Urban Ministry, which decides who gets a bike based on certain criteria.

According to the projects founder, Chris Cary, when people come in to work on the bikes, the group considers those volunteer hours, and once someone gets 20 hours, they then get their own bike from the warehouse. Cary said it usually isn’t a brand new bike that they receive, but the group provides all of the parts and tools needed to make the bike functional. He says that they currently have about 150-200 bikes in the shop.

“We figure after 20 hours of working on bikes, you’ll be able to build one up on your own,” Cary said.

The idea for the bike program originated in Austin, Texas, where Cary was involved with the Yellow Bike Project for about 6 months prior to moving to Augusta in January. Cary said the mission of the project, for him, is to put bikes in people’s hands and teach people how to maintain their bikes. He’s also trying to help develop a sense of community through the Yellow Bike Project, similar to the one he felt in Austin. He said that he really got into that part of the culture there, and is trying to recreate that feeling in Augusta.

“I see it as the more people I have on the road, the safer it is for me. The more people I have on the road to bike with, the more fun it is for me,” Cary said.

Nic Wysong, a sophomore communications major and avid bike rider, thinks the project is a great way of getting the residents of Augusta in shape, as well as a unique way to give back to the community.

“It’s good for kids around the Richmond County area who can’t afford any other form of transportation,” he said. “I ride my bike to school, and I think it’s great, because it gives me an opportunity to exercise because I don’t have time to go to the gym. And it’s a nice ride through Augusta. It’s a really pretty area.”
Though the group accepts donations in the form of bike parts, volunteer time and monetary donations, Cary said that most of the funding comes right out of his own paycheck.

Cary is very adamant about the fact that, though he is considered the “executive director” on all of the paperwork, his goal is to make the project a community co-op. Cary is in the military and, although he will probably be here for the next 2-3 years, his goal is to attract more members to show the willingness to take on a sense of ownership of the organization. He said that he wants to be considered a regular member once the group is more established.

“I’m not taking full ownership, I’m just taking as much ownership as anyone else, and I want this to be a co-op where we vote on every matter. I’m not running this shop everyday. There are other people who run this shop as much as I do,” Cary said.

The only complaint Cary has heard about the program was that some people misunderstood what was being taught in the shop. He said inexperienced people thought it was more structured and that there were classes offered on bike maintenance, while the more experienced people thought it was going to run more like a bike assembly line.

Cary said that he wants people to know that the project, while there are experienced people there to help volunteers, is really more about people learning for themselves.

“You get to learn a lot from building the bikes, but nobody’s really going to hold your hand,” Cary said. “I just want to make sure that people realize that it’s a very open-ended program.”

For more information, visit www.augustayellowbike.org or visit the Facebook group page which can be found by searching “Augusta Yellow Bike Project”. The shop is located at 303 Hale Street.

An intimate setting of about 75 people created the perfect setting for the Jazz Ensemble’s performance.

Each piece featured an extensive demonstration of artistic ability from each member. Most pieces showcased at least one artist in a solo performance. Even the conga drums got their chance to shine. One thing that I noticed was that this group worked as a team and was aware that everyone deserved their chance to shine and make a difference.

For example, because of the way the setup was constructed, the drums and congas were behind the other instruments. So, when it was their turn to play a solo, the artists in the front stepped aside so the drums could be seen. What a sight it was to see music so wonderfully produced. Although the setting was casual and lighthearted, the performance was nothing short of amazing.

Growing in population, the Jazz Ensemble’s performance featured music from a great composer, Thelonious Monk.

“This was part of Black History celebrations,” said Robert Foster, director of the ensemble and a professor of music. “Monk was a great composer and pianist in jazz. A lot of his compositions are jazz standards.”

Not only did this beautiful performance feature the music of such a great composer, but it also welcomed François Briére, who played with the ensemble on the harmonica.

Briére is a native of France who has played with the ensemble for several years. His superior talent was demonstrated as he took the stage for one number and blew everyone’s minds with his superior talent.

However, Briere was not the only talent on the stage that evening. Although Foster said the skill level ranged from beginner to advanced, no one in the audience would have been able to tell the difference between the two groups.

The members of the ensemble include James Wilburn, Richard Smith, William Dukes, Eric Hardy, Anna Pyon, Caleb Wilkerson, Amit Gokhale, Seth Crew, Curtis Carver and JoBen Rivera-Thompson. The Jazz Ensemble played its way through seven upbeat numbers that had the audience dancing and clapping the entire time.

The Jazz Ensemble typically has three or four performances each semester. On April 15 they will host a benefit to help raise money for the Augusta State University Jazz Scholarship.

Other upcoming events for the Music Department include: Orchestra and Wind Ensemble on Thursday, Feb., 25; Chopin Student Piano Recital on Sunday, March 7 at 3p.m.; and the Opera Ensemble’s “An Evening on Broadway,” on Tuesday, March 9. All performances start at 7:30p.m. at the Grover C. Maxwell Performing Arts Theater unless otherwise stated.

Another mandatory fee will now cause students to dig deeper into already dwindling pockets.

According to Dan Whitfield, vice president of business operations, the new Institutional Fee, which was put in place for the spring 2010 semester, was part of the Board of Regents plan to deal with current state budget cuts. Last year, fiscal year 2009, the Board of Regents was asked to submit plans to make a 6 percent, 8 percent or 10 percent cut in budgets, depending on university size.

Little more than two-thirds cost to run a university came from state procreated funds and only about one-third came from students’ tuition, said Whitfield. This previous plan is now shifting, due to the recession and a decrease in the state budget.

“Unfortunately, as you hear in the news and read in the papers, the economy has not improved,” said Whitfield. “State revenue collections are actually worse. Last month there were still double-digit declines.”

According to Whitfield, the first eight percent that was cut from the universities budgets, and faculty and staff health care in 2009, led the Board of Regents to install a mandatory fee of $75 for students. For the fiscal year 2010, further cuts were made, and although the Board of Regents worked to decrease costs, the reductions hit eight percent. After this, the board was forced to look to the students, and increase their $75 fee to $150.

“When (the board increased the fee) they, sensitive to the perceptions and concern about fees, put a moratorium on any other increases through (the fiscal year) 2012,” Whitfield said. “So they are trying to keep a cap on other things…If (a university) had a project, like our Student Center project, or a project that was funded by a fee, those could go on. To just go out and ask for a student activity fee increase or a parking fee increase, those things were not to be allowed. However, they did give the schools some flexibility”

According to the Board of Regents, if a university needs funding in additional areas, the specific group could go before the student government and ask permission to allocate a portion of the $150 for something else.

“Athletics has gone for an increase on about an every three year basis, so this is their year to increase,” Whitfield said. “In fact, Coach Brain had already has some initial meetings with the athletic advisory…and had already started to communicate (the need for an increase) when this word came out. He later, once we knew the new ground rules, met with the SGA to talk through this.”

Whitfield said that the athletic department was looking for a $15 fee increase. Therefore, the institutional fee will not decrease, and the athletic fee will not increase, so the money will just be allocated differently.

According to Whitfield, students often complain about the athletic fee, in particular, claiming that they never go to events so shouldn’t have to pay for them. However, even the athletic fee contributes to the overall credibility of the school.

“When our basketball team went to the national championship in Springfield, Mass., and we were on CBS national television, our director of public relations figured up that all the different places in the media that Augusta State University was mentioned would have costs us 3.5 million dollars in advertising,” Whitfield said. “So, (athletic events) are available for you to participate…and even if you don’t, presence of an athletic team makes this a bigger, better university.”

Although an increase in fees is not what anyone wants in a recession, the Augusta State University students are not alone. In fact, they are among the schools in Georgia with the lowest mandatory fees.

“Even with additional fee increase, I know it doesn’t help, but at least people can put it in perspective that Georgia is still one of the lowest cost university systems,” Whitfield said.

According to Whitfield, not only does Augusta State have one of the lowest mandatory fee rates, but it is the university’s goal to make it so low.

“Augusta State’s longstanding philosophy has been to be as lean and mean as we can with mandatory fees,” Whitfield said.

Although students are not exempt from the recession, at this point, according to Whitfield, the plan is to maintain the institutional fee until the fiscal year 2012. The board is concerned with the budgets because once the budgets are cut they rarely increase. According to Whitfield, more cuts are likely to take place in the future. With the fee on track to end in 2012, according to Whitfield, tuition will most likely increase.

“In some fashion, (the fee) would probably get rolled into tuition,” Whitfield said.

Despite student’s dislike of fees, these fees contribute to the integrity of the university and the extra amenities universities have to offer.

“All of (the fees) do make it a much better experience than if you just came to class, paid your tuition, and left,” Whitfield said.

Guatemalan issues are made aware by a guest speaker.

Heather J. Abdelnur, assistant professor if history, along with the International Affairs Committee and the CSRA Peace Committee, welcomed Lee Ballenger onto the campus to discuss issues concerning CAFTA and Guatemala.
Faculty, staff, students and members of the community, gathered together to listen to Ballenger discuss trade issues in Guatemala.

“Pretty good audience for a Tuesday rainy evening,” Abdelnur said

According to Abdelnur, the International Affairs Committee fell into this presentation by accident.
“Someone approached me from the CSRA peace committee and said that they wanted to invite this particular speaker but they didn’t have a venue other than the Green Street Library, and they were afraid there would be an audience,” she said.
For Abdelnur, this presentation was perfect for her class that is doing its research paper on Guatemala. With just a little over two weeks to plan, Abdelnur said that she was excited to hear what he had to say

Growing up in a small town in South Carolina, Ballenger said that he became first interested in trade when local factories began to close down at the same time an increase of Hispanics were entering the neighborhood.

“Some of us began to research what was in the background,” he said. “We could see for ourselves the number of Hispanics, we could see for ourselves that these mills were now closed, but nobody really understood why and of course when nobody understands why that always leads to people making bad choices.”
Ballenger gave the audience a back ground of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was passed in 1994. According to Ballenger, in order for the United States to sell more goods to Mexico, the Mexicans had to be making more money.

“By eliminating the tariffs so that there was no barrier to trade, obviously the people living in Mexico would have access to better jobs, would make more money and by more American products,” Ballenger said. “Well, who’s against that? Back in out hometown we’ll make more products, we will need to hire more people because the Mexicans will have more money because they will be working to buy our products. If you are concerned with the number of illegal immigrants living in your town, well they wouldn’t want to come here anymore because they would be living happily in Mexico.”
According to Ballenger, the vote in 1994 was not even close. The vote passed with a majority vote. However, Ballenger posed the question to the audience; did NAFTA make an improvement on illegal immigrants or textile jobs?
“It was obvious to any person on the street that NAFTA didn’t improve anyone of those,” he said.
According to Ballenger, since 1994 the number of jobs has decreased and the number of illegal immigrants has increased.

“You wouldn’t have to be a student of economics, wouldn’t have to have a PhD in economics, you would have to do advanced study to recognize that the North American Free Trade Agreement was a failure,” he said.

Ballenger said that the only people who benefited from NAFTA were the factory owners because they were now able to move their factories to Mexico and pay the Mexicans a smaller wage. He explained that because of subsidies, the American-agricultural farmer can lower their prices but the Mexican farmer does not receive a subsidy and therefore cannot compete with the American prices.
“Why would you buy expensive Mexican corn over cheap American corn?” he said. “1.5 million Mexican farmers went out of business because of NAFTA, and where did they go? They came here because you have to work and you have to feed your family.”
According to Ballenger, Mexicans began leaving their farms and moving to get a job in a factory. The problem, Ballenger said, was that the stores around the factories knew how much the workers made and therefore raised the price of their goods.
“Before you were living corn season to corn season and now you are living pay check to pay check,” he said.

In 2005, after 11 years of research, Ballenger said that CAFTA was passed by Congress, but under interesting circumstances.

“By the rules of the House, after so many hours of debate, the speaker of the House says ‘There will now be a 15 minute vote,’” he said. “After 15 minutes, the gavel is dropped, the vote is closed, you voted yes, you voted no, you didn’t vote, but it is a done deal. In 2005 when the speaker of the House said that the debate about CAFTA was over he said the same thing…at 11:15 that night CAFTA was defeated…but the vote was not then gaveled closed.”

According to Ballenger, one by one the people who voted against CAFTA asked the speaker to close the vote and he did not. Congressmen who had votes against CAFTA were also being “strong armed” and told to change their vote.
“Three went back in and changed their vote and as soon as the tally switch so that CAFTA had passed by one vote, the speaker of the House gaveled the vote closed and declared CAFTA to be passed,” he said. “CAFTA is as illegal as me going into the parking lot, drinking a gallon of gin and driving 120 miles per hour down Wrightsboro Rd.”

Ballenger then finished his presentation by discussing the effects that CAFTA has had on the Guatemalan people.

As a Guatemalan specialist, Abdelnur appreciated that he wanted to talk about what he has learned.
“I was pleased with his easy going nature and his style and quality of voice,” she said. “He was definitely engaging for the students. There were some pieces of what he had to say that I am going to have to decompress with my students.”
However, according to Abdelnur, there were a couple of factual errors.

“There were some things that were basis and one of the audience members called him out on that,” she said. “I don’t know so much that he acknowledged the basis. He was definitely very left leaning, very liberal and appeared to have some issue with evangelical Protestantism.”

According to Abdelnur, it is not bad that that happened.

“In his defensive, he is talking about something that adjutants us enough that we want to discuss it further and so I think that was wonderful.”
According to Abdelnur, even though there were some things off, for a general conversation on Guatemala after 1954, she thought him to be a success.

Students are not the only ones having to attend workshops and lectures.

According to Deborah Richardson, a professor of psychology, faculty members attend workshops and lectures through the Academy of Learning at Augusta State University to benefit their teaching styles.

“This has provided workshops and speakers from off-campus to come in and deal with issues of interest to faculty,” she said.

However, the university system has encouraged all the institution to establish a center for teaching and learning.

“The purpose of the center for teaching and learning is to enhance faculty development,” Richardson said. “Each institution can decide how it wants to do that.”

This semester, the Center for Teaching and Learning started with funding from each of the college departments on campus. According to Richardson, the center offers workshops on how to do active learning in the classroom

“We are just beginning to get developed, but we hope that we are going to have enough buy-in that the university will want to keep us around,” she said. “So we have started a leadership luncheon series that we intended to be for new chairs, but ,in fact, old chairs want to be part of it as well.”

This semester, the Center for Teaching and Learning is preparing to allow faculty to request traveling money to attend conferences in the state that center around teaching and learning.

“The notion there is to try to develop a sort of culture of inquiry about and discussion about teaching and learning,” she said “The mission of the center for teaching and learning is to support efforts aimed at enhancing and maintaining effective teaching by advancing a collegial culture of inquiry about teaching and learning.”

Ultimately, Richardson said that the effectiveness should come to the students, but it is allowing faculty to enhance their teaching styles.

“Some of the centers that have been around for a long period of time, when they do their assessments what they really want to assess are what the outcome is for the students,” Richardson said. “Are we changing the way we are teaching? Are we finding more effective strategies?”

Next semester, the center will probably stay with just the leadership luncheon. However, Richardson said that they hope to put more emphasis on teaching and learning. The group will host a speaker to come and discuss online education, because the university is trying to push the faculty to embrace it.

According to Richardson, the main reason the university is pushing online education is because of its efficiency.

“We are going to be running out of space of campus pretty soon,” she said. “We aren’t going to have enough classrooms if we continue to grow. People have talked about having hybrid courses as a possibility for courses that have some online meeting and some face-to-face meeting. Right now, we are exploring what the possibilities might be.”

Another benefit Richardson explained was that online education can make education accessable to many people who may not have access.

“We are figuring it out,” she said.

The pool house is in its final months, but one class is making the most out of the situation.

“The idea really came out of the environment,” said Chris Pope, director and co-writer for the student film.

According to Pope, the classed toured the locations and decided that it was a great place for a ghost story.

“It has been fun,” he said. “The main issue is that most people haven’t worked with film before, including me. We are used to working with digital.”

This class, taught by Rick Pukis, an associate professor of communications, is not offered every semester. In fact it is only taught about once every four semesters. The goal of the class is to film an independent film using 16 millimeter film, which, according to Pukis, is good for historical background.

According to Pukis, it is important for the class to use film and not digital cameras.

“There are many different perspectives, so I will touch on a couple,” he said “The aesthetic look (of film), one is an electronic signal and one is a chemical process and it is light reacting with silver…crystals. So the image is more aesthetically pleasing with film…The mind perceives it as being truer and more real. Another thing is that it is very expensive.”

For about three minutes of film it cost about $25 for the actual film. With all the other costs, like developing and transferring, it is about $50-$65 to film three minutes of a movie.

“It is a completely different mindset, and I think it helps the students really understand how to tell a story or how to get their point across in a very effective way,” Pukis said. “I think it is an excellent learning experience and technique.”

For the film class, all the students submit a script and give their input on what script to use. According to Pukis, the class took two scripts and merged them together to create the film. When it came to choosing the location, Pukis said that he had always liked the big space that the pool offered.

“Now that the water is drained out, I thought it would make a great setting,” he said. “With the swimming pool about to be torn down, I thought that this would be a great historical document for the university.”

Next semester, Pukis will be teaching an animation compositing course called “digital effects for cinema.” According to Pukis, the class will use tools that are used in the filmmaking industry.

There is no tricking anyone. Our university is not your typical college environment. As much as students, faculty, administrators and staff want to try and believe it is just like every other college, it is not. That is what makes Augusta State University a great school.

Sitting in class with people from all different walks of life, brings so much more to a college experience. It brings a different perspective on life and allows diverse group of students to learn together. The stay-at-home mom and the going-back-to-school working dad can be in the same study group as a first-time freshman just out of high school. My wish is that some people would embrace this unique type of university and not put it down.

In the past, I heard someone put down the work that students do in class by saying that at Augusta State the bar is lower and not as much is expected. This was very offensive because, it is not true. The bar is not any lower for an Augusta State student than at another university.

True, a lot of Augusta State students are nontraditional, however that does not mean they are any less dedicated to their studies. For people who feel that Augusta State is inferior to other universities, I challenge them to go and find a school where students sometimes don’t do the reading, or where students sometimes fail tests because they were confused or just didn’t understand the question.

Some people choose Augusta State because it is close to their home, or because they could not afford to go out of state but didn’t want to live at home. No matter what the choice, Augusta State is a thriving university with excellent professors who are excited to teach here.

Personally I believe that most of the students at Augusta State are more dedicated than at another university. I believe this because so many students here are nontraditional and know the kind of effort it takes to do well in the real world. There are some typical college students who want to party and not come to class, but, at this school, I see them as being in the minority.

No matter what type of student you are, get involved on campus. There are many plays and concerts in the Maxwell Theater. Join an organization to learn about the workings of your school. Attend events on campus, like the movie that was shown in the amphitheater. No matter what, show the people who believe that the bar is lower for Augusta State students that they are wrong, and that this school is thriving and growing, and that the bar has never been higher.

Saxophones, guitars and drums boom through downtown Augusta every first Friday of the month.

No matter the weather, downtown Augusta welcomes First Friday guests with open arms and lots of entertainment. Melissa Sherwood, community program director for the Greater Augusta Arts Council, sai First Friday originally started as an easy stroll down Broad Street.

“It originally started to be more of a gallery stroll,” Sherwood said. “Galleries would have new work displayed those nights.”

According to Danny Kotz, a local musician, First Friday started around 1999. Kotz became involved in First Friday through the local music scene.

“I got involved because of the Playground bar when they started having open mike nights,” Kotz said.

According to Kotz, First Friday used to go on until it would just stop. The crowds during the evenings were mostly middle age. However, when the clock struck 11, people would come out to party.

“That’s when it stepped up a little,” Kotz said. “It became a little more like a party, and less like a festival.”

According to Kotz, there was one instance in the past were someone left a bar and started a little brawl. However, Kotz said that the main problem started with the business owners. Everything shut down at 10 p.m. without the public’s knowledge. Therefore, Kotz said, downtown was full of people, some intoxicated, with nowhere to go.

“You’re always going to have something you can point at during any event,” Kotz said. “Gosh, compare it to any part of the country or the world and this is about as mild and tame a situation that ever comes along.”

According to Sherwood, the Augusta Chronicle labeled the event “The First Friday Riot,” and there was even talk about canceling the event.

“You get thousands of people downtown, and the fact that more doesn’t happen surprises me,” Sherwood said.

According to Sherwood, First Friday festivals take place all over the country. The vast majority of these festivals focus on the visual arts. However, for one gallery on Broad Street, First Friday has done little to impact its business.

J. Roy and Wanta Davenport own Artistic Perceptions, the “oldest continuously owned art gallery on Broad Street.” When the Davenports opened their studio about 19 years ago, downtown was just beginning to be revitalized. However, with the introduction of First Friday, business did not change.

“The only way it improves our business is because of any effort that we make,” J. Roy said. “If we didn’t make an effort to promote something on our own it would not affect us at all.”

According to Wanta, people do not get down to the 500 block unless they have promoted themselves.

“There is no lighting; there are no businesses there that are open to the public,” J. Roy said. “They get to a certain point and they look and don’t see anything else for two blocks and don’t see anything of interest so they don’t come down.”

Even with the efforts made by the Greater Augusta Art Council to promote First Friday and the local artists, the Davenports continue to claim that their gallery “has to be a destination.” Despite everything, Wanta said “Artist’s Row is because of us.” First Friday has allowed Artist’s Row to shift from a small art stroll to something with an economic drive for downtown.

“The community really now has become more involved in the event,” Sherwood said.

Today more and more families come downtown on First Friday, along with a greater age group and ethic culture range.

“It went from being artistic-painting, drawings, maybe some sculpture, maybe some pottery-to the performing arts,” Kotz said.

According to Sherwood, people from Colombia County, Aiken and even further counties contact her office wanting to know about the event.

“I have had many business owners tell me that they make their month on First Friday,” Sherwood said. “This was our once-monthly event where we really could showcase all kinds of talent in Augusta. You name it; we really have tried to give people a platform to perform at a community event.”

“This is a very talented area,” Kotz said.

With many mores street musicians and performers applying with Sherwood to perform at First Friday, she said that no matter what, she will always try and “keep it inclusive.”

Halloween is just around the corner, and there are so many people getting ready to go trick-or-treating. Kids and adults are putting together costumes, or going out and purchasing new ones. When the sun goes down, hundreds of basket-laden people will flood the streets of Augusta.

Not only will these people be out to have a great time, but they will also be competing with the all-day, everyday traffic. Despite the holiday, traffic will inevitably continue to be a factor to consider when planning your evening activities.
Safety should be first no matter what you are doing, but on Halloween, it is especially important. One way to make sure you stay safe is to always travel in groups.
Staying with a large group of people is good for a few reasons. For starters, traveling in groups makes it easier for a moving car to spot you. Chances are the costumes will be reflectors enough, but always making sure that someone has some type of reflecting gear is always important. Today, stores sell many different verities of reflection gear. They have reflectors you can put on your shoes, so as to not interfere with your costume. If you are more daring, there are reflecting vest that will for sure make a fashion statement.

Another way to stay safe while out having fun is to make sure that you and your group have decided on a specific route and a meeting place if someone looses the group. Choosing safe well-lit neighborhoods can provide extra security for you and your trick-or-treating companions.

Now, for those who you who are the Scrooges of Halloween and do not want to go out and trick-or-treat, there are safety measures you can take to insure the safety of others. For starters, you can pay extra attentions to your surroundings. Try and wait an extra second at the stop signs to make sure a little pumpkin or Twilight character does not come running across the street.
Another precaution you can take is to try and avoid driving through neighborhoods. People are most likely to trick-or-treat in neighborhoods, so staying on main roads and highways will actually be a good thing for once.
No matter what your costume is, and no matter how much fun you have, it is important that everyone stays safe. Do not take candy that has been taken out of wrappers and rewrapped. Do not go inside anyone’s house no matter what kind of good candy they have. Make sure someone in your group carries a cell phone.

Another pet peeve that I have, and it may not be shared by many, but this is a holiday for walking around neighborhoods dressed as different characters. Now, the key word in that statement is walking. Yes, Americans walk somewhere.
I can not tell you how much it bothers me to see cars drive up and down the streets with kids jumping in and out of them. Not to mention the exercise so many of us need, but the safety issue as well. If kids are jumping in and out of cars chances are they are not putting on their seatbelts. Also with all of the frequent stops, kids running from house to house and cars just trying to drive through, the cars transporting kids from house to house can be extremely dangerous.

No matter what, remember to be safe and have a good time.